Leader rating

Synopsis

It's 1970s Cold War Britain and someone is leaking secrets to the Russians. Cue a tangled web of lies, deceit and creeping paranoia, as John le Carre's best-selling spy novel is reworked into a star-packed and hugely atmospheric feature. Rejecting Bourne-style action in favour of meaty plotting and character-driven suspense, the superbly performed thriller sees taciturn intelligence agent, George Smiley, brought out of retirement to uncover which of his former MI6 colleagues has betrayed their country. Assisted by younger operative, Peter Guillam, Smiley methodically investigates the key suspects: a group of trusted senior officers code-named 'Tinker', 'Tailor', 'Soldier', and 'Poor Man'. But in hunting a traitor, he’s forced to confront his own past; an act that makes unravelling the full truth harder than he’d imagined.